Firsthand Accounts
Published: 2/16/12
Voice from the Past: “Ask Us to Marry Him”
Alexandria, February, 1863. I must tell you about a little excursion we made on the 14th. Dr. S. gave us leave (Mrs. B. and me) to go down to Mt....
Published: 2/15/12
Voice from the Past: “My Valentine to the Best Woman in the World”
Union Mills, Va., February 14th, 1863. Dear Wife: It has this minute struck me that this is St. Valentine’s day and this will be my valentine to ‘the best woman...
Published: 2/15/12
Voice from the Past: “Absolute Naval Supremacy”
We continue our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial celebration with the following diary entry by William Howard Russell, December, 1861: On my return to New York, at the end of February, the...
Published: 2/14/12
Voice from the Past: Sending Valentines
Another Valentine’s Day 1862 “Voice from the Past” to mark the holiday. Friday, 14th — This is Valentine’s Day and some of the boys are having a great time sending...
Published: 2/14/12
Voice from the Past: “To Be Your Valentine”
Happy Valentine’s Day from The Civil War Monitor. We hope you enjoy this letter from Valentine’s Day, 1862. Good morrow, ‘t is St. Valentine’s day All in the morning betime....
Published: 2/14/12
Voice from the Past: “A Desperate Fight at Fort Donelson”
Good morning! Today’s Fort Donelson sesquicentennial post comes from a letter William Penn Lyon wrote to Adelia Caroline Duncotabe Lyon on February 17, 1862: Mound City, Monday noon, Feb. 17,...
Published: 2/13/12
Voice from the Past: “St. Valentine’s Day, I believe”
An early Valentine’s greeting from all of us at The Civil War Monitor. To celebrate, all this week, “The Front Line” blog will be publishing a “Voices from the Past”...
Published: 2/13/12
Voice from the Past: “The Startling Intelligence from Fort Donelson”
Good morning! We have another contribution to our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series. This excerpt is from Alfred Lewis Castleman’s diary: What a week of news, opening on us with intelligence...
Published: 2/12/12
Voice from the Past: “Great Victories…At Such a Price of Blood”
Good morning! Our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series continues with this excerpt from Lucy Larcom’s February, 1862 diary: There is news to-day of great victories in progress for us. Fort Donelson...
Published: 2/11/12
Voice from the Past: “Such Astounding Events”
Our Fort Donelson sesquicentennial series begins with the following entry from John Beauchamp Jones’ February, 1862 diary: Such astounding events have occurred since the 8th instant, such an excitement has...
Published: 2/6/12
Voice from the Past: “The 6th Dawned Mild and Cheering”
The following is Rear Admiral Henry Walke’s recollection of the Battle of Fort Henry. …Heavy rains had been falling, and the river had risen rapidly to an unusual height; the...
Published: 2/6/12
Voice from the Past: “We Had Held Out for Over Two”
The following is Captain Jesse Taylor’s recollection of the Confederate defense of Fort Henry on February 6, 1862. …Arriving at the fort, I was convinced by a glance at its...
Published: 2/2/12
Voice from the Past: Rallying with the Hearts of Lions
The following letter is from Samuel Cabble, a private in the Fifty-fifth Massachusetts Infantry, to his wife. Cabble was a slave before he joined the army at twenty-one years of...
Published: 1/5/12
Voice from the Past: “The Cheer of the Glad New Year”
Good Morning! Today’s Voice from the Past comes from George Michael Neese. New Year’s Day, and orders to go to Dam No. 5, with Ashby’s cavalry. This was a bright...
Published: 1/3/12
Voice from the Past: “A Dull Day”
Good Morning! Today’s Voice from the Past comes from Alexander G. Downing. His 1862 New Years’ celebration was a far cry from the revelry enjoyed by most modern day celebrants....
Published: 1/2/12
Voice from the Past: “A Great Day of Sport to Usher in the New Year”
Happy New Year! As we begin a new calendar year and a new year of sesquincentennial celebrations, we thought it fitting to look back upon New Years 1862. All this...
Published: 12/26/11
Voice from the Past: “Not peace, but a sword”
Happy Holidays! Today’s Voice from the Past is Wilder Dwight of the 2nd Massachusetts Infantry. The following passage is an excerpt from a 15 December 1861 letter to his mother:...
Published: 12/22/11
The Funeral of a “Gentleman Cow”
As the war ground on toward its fourth year, shortages became more and more acute, both for Southern citizens and Confederate soldiers. Even in Texas, where Federal armies had yet...